Protection Assistant – G4 – ZAH172 – UNOPS Contract - Zahle, Lebanon

Organizational Setting and Workplace Relationships

Eight years into the Syria crisis, Lebanon remains the country hosting the largest number of refugees per capita, with nearly 950,000  Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR, about 20,000 refugees of other origins - mostly Iraqi - and Palestine refugees under UNRWA’s mandate.  There are no formal camps for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and refugees are living in hundreds of communities and locations across the country. 

The refugee response is led by the Government and UNHCR and UNDP, supported by the international community. As the designated lead agency in the refugee response, UNHCR has established a sector-based structure in Beirut and in the field. The structure brings together over 150 UN agencies, national and international NGO partners [over 150 actors, including UN agencies, national and international NGOs and Ministries] in identifying and agreeing on the strategic priorities to address the needs of Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese communities. The Lebanon Chapter of the Response Plan falls under the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP), whereby UNHCR guides the refugee response and UNDP facilitates the resilience and stabilization component.

The UNHCR operational response in Lebanon is one of the largest for the organization. Media attention and the frequency of influential high-profile visitors is high. The Office has grown substantially in the past years and is currently operating with around 650 staff. Aside from the country office in the capital city of Beirut, UNHCR has field offices in Mount Lebanon, Qobayat, Tripoli, Tyre and Zahle.

In September 2017, the Personal Status Department (PSD) of the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities adopted a simplification of birth and marriage registration procedures for Syrian nationals and Palestine Refugees from Syria, which means that valid legal residency of the parents of a child is no longer required for birth registration. In addition, only one spouse (instead of two) requires valid legal residency or entry card to register their marriage. In August 2019, the Government of Lebanon extended the waiver for late birth registration procedures of Syrian children born between 1st January 2011 and 8th February 2020. In light of these positive developments, UNHCR decided to scale up its support on birth registration to help refugee families to register the birth of their children with the competent civil registry authority, the Foreigners’ Registry.The incumbent will be mainly responsible to counsel Syrian refugee families on how to register the birth of their children born in Lebanon and to support vulnerable refugees to register the birth of their children with the PSD Foreigners’ Registry by facilitating liaison with competent authorities for the obtainment of birth registration documents, according to established SOPs. Whenever necessary, the Protection Assistant will also support the Protection Unit in designing a comprehensive protection strategy and in providing quality, timely and effective protection responses to persons of concern (PoC). S/he may liaise externally with local authorities and partners on correspondence and/or protection issues as guided by the supervisor.

The Protection Assistant will report to an Associate Protection Officer. 

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR’s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Functional Statement

• Counsel parents of Syrian children on birth registration procedures in line with UNHCR counselling guidelines.
• Counsel potential beneficiaries on the assistance provided by UNHCR to support refugees to register the birth of their children born in Lebanon.
• Assist vulnerable refugees to register the birth of their children born in Lebanon according to existing SOPs, including by facilitating liaison with competent authorities for the issuance of birth registration documents. 
• Enter relevant data directly to the database system during counselling and maintain updated physical and electronical files of beneficiaries.
• Produce monthly reports on counselling and assistance provided on birth registration.
• Undertake follow up calls with people counselled during the survey to monitor effectiveness of assistance provided.
• Assist in drafting reports, routine correspondence, updating relevant databases and compiling statistics for the protection unit/section. 
• Consistently apply International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct.
• Observe and respect protection related Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
• Perform other related duties as required.